TRAUMAFESSIONS :: Reader Mickster on Duran Duran & Billy Joel videos

My nephew was born when I was 13 and my niece was born when I was 15, so it was my job to baby-sit them as a teenager. Well, like most teenagers in the 80’s I enjoyed watching videos of my favorite artists. In my case, it meant watching many Billy Joel and Duran Duran videos. This brings us to my first case of trauma with my nephew, who was about 3 at the time; I was watching my VHS of Duran Duran‘s videos and “The Wild Boys” came on. He loved the music because he had listened to it constantly, but I guess he had never paid attention to the video itself. The part where SIMON LE BON falls from the windmill into the water where a weird creature attempts to kill him sent my nephew screaming from the room. He was unable to watch that video for years to come. Next, the second case of trauma with my niece, I had BILLY JOEL‘s greatest hits on VHS, which we enjoyed watching. In this situation I didn’t find out until years later that the video bothered her, she was more subtle than her older brother. She confided in me later on that the video for “Pressure” was traumatizing. The scene where BILLY JOEL is sucked down into the carpet was particularly disturbing for her. It is funny that they both still like Billy Joel and Duran Duran. I even took them to see them both in concert. I guess that is why I am still known as their “Cool Aunt” instead of the aunt that inadvertently traumatized them with music videos.